jwz

Milk Cameo:

Techniques for producing organic materials enable the fabrication of plastics made from human or animal milk by solidifying their casein content. The `Perle de lait' range of jewellery imagines a new set of personalized post-natal objects. The breast-feeding mother sends a feeding bottle full of her milk to a laboratory where it is transformed into a gem-like substance that can be mounted on a neck-piece or any other form of jewellery.

slamlander

I just saw his speech about the economy. The man is a bald-faced liar and anyone who believes him is dumber than stink. He blames so much on the current administration yet the administration could not spend the money without the approval of the DEMOCRATICALLY DOMINATED Congress¹ . He himself, as a sitting Senator, knows this and approved the tax rebate measure. Now he is pretending that it’s all Bush’s fault. Well, it’s Congress’ fault for going along with it, Obama knows this, and that makes him a bald-faced liar!

I was willing to cut Barack Obama some slack but this just convinced me that I can’t trust him, EVER! I’ve been on record here for years, wondering where the hell the Democrats have been while the Religious Right² have been trampling all over our Constitutional Rights. Now I know, they are as large a problem as the Religious Right.

1. By Constitutional law, all appropriations MUST originate in the House, get filtered by the Senate, and get delivered to the President, who then executes the orders Congress gave him. Bush may have requested it but without the Democrats, he wouldn’t have gotten it. [↩]
2. The Religious Rights had hijacked the Republican Party from us real Republicans, back in the days of Pat Buchanan. [↩]

dagbrown

Loud, low-frequency noises accompanied by the earth shaking: earthquake.

Loud, low-frequency noises with the earth staying still: thunderstorm.

The hell of it is, earthquakes seem to happen more frequently here than thunderstorms.

slamlander

Some of you may not know it but I started these Econ posts in an attempt to figure out where my Industry was going. The theory is that good economic time create jobs and bad time destroy jobs. Ergo, to predict what jobs are doing one must watch what the economy is doing.

I was only partly correct. Ever since the dot-com and telecom crashes, the technology sector has been lackluster, at best. This was even in the face of the so-called Business Recovery of 2004-2006. Greenspan called it a Jobless Recovery. In part, it was supported by the business infrastructure overbuild we did during the dot-com and telecom boom days. There was enough spare capacity to support growth rates of factors of five to ten, with existing staff. During that time, the technology sector experienced unemployment rates greater than15%¹ .

Well, during this process I learned that economic systems are not closed and isolated. One part effects other parts to varying degrees and all industries are somewhat inter-related and inter-dependent. In an effort to glean some positive tech sector data, I became obsessed with the various business channels. I learned to reach beyond the economics that a normal MBA gives you² . I tried to use this to predict the market, all the while hoping that I would see signs of revival in my Industry. I’ve been doing this for almost seven years³  and I learned a lot. I learned that technical market analysts are not any better than any other numerologist or shaman and that you’re just as well off consulting the I Ching. That the only thing to pay strict attention to was market and economic fundamentals.

In doing this, I actually predicted the sub-prime problems, as a direct result of the Feds raising the interest rates. I also predicted the consequential current down-turn, not to mention problems with the Falling Buck. I knew, beyond doubt, that the jobless recovery was not a real recovery and that it wasn’t sustainable. Current events prove me correct.

The US and UK have persistent structural problems in their economic infrastructure. The sub-prime crisis is only a symptom of this. The problems in the UK are caused by similar fundamental problems. Continental Europe, on the whole, doesn’t have the same problems because they are much more heavily regulated. Banks here aren’t allowed to make 125% mortgage loans or charge variable interest rates. Contracts are required to be of fixed rate, term, and value. The borrower is also required to bring in a certain amount of equity so that they have a share in the risk and a vested interest in making sure that they are not paying more than they should for their house.

The US economy was poisoned by variable rate mortgages while the UK economy was poisoned by no-equity home buyers. Both suffer massively inflated housing bubbles as a direct result. These are bubbles that are going to take years to deflate/write-down. The deflation issues represent a massive destruction of wealth and they are largely being absorbed by the consumers.

Fundamental economic issues for the US

1. A multi-trillion dollar trade deficit and running current account deficit.
2. A multi-trillion dollar war that the chief twit is refusing to carry on the books⁴ .
3. A multi-Trillion dollar wealth destruction, due to the sub-prime crisis.
4. A devastated financial infrastructure with Trillions of dollars yet to be accounted for.

79% of US GDP is created by consumers yet all the above effects the consumer directly. Add to this, a long period where salaries have not gone up and have even deflated and jobs are harder to find. The consumer-driven jobless recovery was fueled by the inflating property bubble and not by real production⁵ . Now that the property bubble is deflating, consumers no longer have the cash to support the economy. As we know from the US Jobs Report⁶ , many don’t even have the jobs they once had either. Of course, consumer sentiment is down!

Conclusion

The thing that started me on this track was the attempt at predicting when work would be available, in the technology sector, again. The short answer, seven years on in the US, is that there are still less jobs than there are people to fill them. This means that wages are going down as profits rise, especially in the new bear market. I don’t blame the large corps, I blame the US Federal government for not making jobs a part of the recovery, like Reagan did.

1. as opposed to 6-9% for everyone else [↩]
2. As the former Managing Director (CEO) of a Silicon Valley consultancy, this is already considerable [↩]
3. the same length of time that my company flourished [↩]
4. US balance sheet [↩]
5. Don’t forget the minor detail that most production has been off-shored [↩]
6. released yesterday: 65K jobs lost last month and 65Kjobs lost in May. [↩]

slamlander

My lawyer in Houston just informed me that the major obstacle to SG and I getting married has now been removed. My marriage to my second wife is now legally done and I am now divorced from her. I still have a lot of paperwork to do, in two other countries, but they are only a minor detail of processing. The essential problem, my prior marriage, has now been removed. The final decree is expected here on Monday, via FedEx.

We are planning a strictly secular wedding, for the middle of August, and hope to have my daughter here by then as well.

jwz

Caloric Restriction Comes in a Pill

Scientists have provided the strongest evidence yet that the anti-aging benefits of calorically restricted diets can be duplicated -- minus the near-starvation -- by a pill.

In a study published today in Cell Metabolism, mice given resveratrol -- the first of an eagerly-anticipated class of longevity drugs -- enjoyed dramatically improved health, even when they started taking the drug late in life.

Resveratrol didn't extend the lives of normal mice, but it did protect them from the ravages of time. The rodents had stronger hearts, clearer eyes, more limber muscles and firmer bones. Closer analysis revealed the same cell-level changes produced by caloric restriction, an extreme form of dieting that consistently lengthens the lives of lab animals but is impractical, if not dangerous, for people.

"For the first time, we can mimic caloric restriction in an otherwise healthy animal," said study co-author David Sinclair, a Harvard University biologist and co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. "That's been the goal of the field for decades. We didn't know it was possible to let an animal eat whatever it wants, but still get the benefits. We now have evidence."

Regardless of mouse weight and diet, resveratrol worked wonders. At two years of age, or the mouse equivalent of senescence, the mice were more coordinated than their non-dosed counterparts. Their bones were thicker and stronger, their eyes free of cataracts, their hearts beating strong. At the cellular level, tissues displayed gene-level changes almost identical to those produced by caloric restriction.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals has already started clinical trials of resveratrol and a more-refined sirtuin activator. In June they were purchased for $720 million by Glaxo Smith Kline, signaling the seriousness with which academics and the pharmaceutical industry views the field.

"You've got to take aging research seriously if a company is willing to put down three-quarters of a billion dollars on it," said Sinclair.

jwz

The function of Spore appears to be the generation of ridiculous Youtube clips like this. After having watched the demo videos of the game itself, though, I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would play it. But then, The Sims baffled me too, with all of its SimKafka tedium.

jwz

Metal Layering Technique Leads to Fine Tuned Implants

A laser heats the powdered metal in the exact places that need to be firm. "It's like baking a cake," says Andreas Burblies, spokesman for the Fraunhofer Numerical Simulation of Products, Processes Alliance. Any remaining loose powder is subsequently removed. "The end product is an open-pored element," explains Burblies. "Each point possesses exactly the right density and thus also a certain stability." The method allows the engineers to produce particularly lightweight components that are also extremely robust.

dingodingo

Originally published at TheDingo.net. Please leave any comments there.

Last night we booked a Carnival 5 day honeymoon cruise! Here’s our trip itinerary:

1. Saturday, Dec. 13th: Leave from New Orleans at 4PM on the Carnival Fantasy
2. Sunday, Dec. 14th: Fun day at sea
3. Monday, Dec. 15th: Arrive at Progreso, Yucatán
   1. First Shore Excursion: Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins (Details)
4. Tuesday, Dec. 16th: Arrive at Cozumel, Mexico
   1. Second Shore Excursion: Atlantis Submarine (Details)
5. Thursday, Dec. 17th: Fun day at sea
6. Friday, Dec. 18th: Return to New Orleans port

Right now i’m so excited I can barely stand it. This is going to be an awesome trip! Since we decided to book it on this date, it was very inexspensive (off season). I could see taking many more cruises in the future at  these prices.

The next thing we have to do is get our passports. As of right now they are not required for water/land travel, but in 2009 that law is changing. We figured we should go ahead and get them now (and have less hassle later).

dagbrown

Some great big long time ago, the scheduler at the bike school scheduled me for a huge bunch of lessons all at once—I had about three weeks of lessons on the fragile little slip of paper they’d given me. So I figured that that was the end of the lessons and that the final “lesson” would be the examination, and if I did okay on that, I’d be free to go and get the license.

Of course, things never work out like that for real. That’s okay, for Saturday’s lesson, the instructor (Mr. Dressup again!) took the two of us—a young kid and me—out on the ladder, which is something that doesn’t even happen on the futsuu test. Cool!

The first time through, he had us drive over at slightly-slower- than-normal speeds while standing up on the pegs (not all the way up, because the point of standing is to let you use your knees as shock absorbers—ProTip!).

Once we got the hang of just going over the bumps, he had us go over as slow as possible. Ipponbashi speeds. So I was going over v-e-r-y slowly, and the kid went over a bit too slowly and toppled over sideways with an undignified bump. Oops.

Fortunately everyone wears full body armor, so no damage was done. As soon as he got the bike righted, he went on his way and we went around for another lap. That time I stalled my bike—I was going a little bit TOO slowly. The kid, on the other hand, got shouted at to GO SLOWER! NO, SLOWER THAN THAT!

Eventually we both got the hang of it, and so the instructor took us out on a narrow bit of road (pausing to move a car out of the way) to do some tight U-turns. The trick with doing really tight turns at low speed is apparently to, when turning, lean in the opposite direction that the bike is leaning, so as to take better advantage of how bikes turn more sharply when leaning over.

Neither of us quite got the hang of it, but at least I didn’t plant my bike in the bushes like the kid did (oops).

The second hour was simply going on the test courses to make sure that we’d be prepared for the actual test. There are two courses, labeled A and B. The A course is simply the instructional course with the slalom and the figure-8 switched for no adequately- explainable reason. The B course is dramatically different.

After staring at the map for a while, we took off and started doing the courses. The first time round I managed to get completely confused on the A course, and finished the slalom going “Duh….what next?” The hill start, of course.

The instructor was out with a stopwatch to check out the timed elements—he timed my slalom at a healthy 7.5 seconds (phew!), and my balance beam at 15 seconds, to which he explained that it’d be okay if I were to go a little faster on the balance beam (heh). So my next balance beam came in at 7.0 seconds.

The third time I did it, though, the neighboring police academy’s kogata students were all watching and one of them had a stopwatch on him. So I decided to give them a little show, and went over it as slow as I possibly could. 25 seconds later, the police academy students were looking amazed, and the instructor was glaring at me. That was the last balance beam I got to do, because of time constraints, but at the summing-up at the end of the class, the instructor told me to do the balance beam at a normal speed, because pissing off the tester by showing off is never a good idea.

Okay, I admit it, I was showing off.

Then he told us that since we both seemed okay on the course (“although, Mr. Brown, if you could do the balance beam faster…”), we could book the exam.

I said “I’m still not even vaguely confident that I can do the B course though.”

“Well, it’s probably,” he said, tapping the side of his nose meaningfully, “probably going to be the A course.” And we went to book the test.

The next morning, as it turned out.

At 8:30am.

Naturally, I went out with my buddy and had a few beers, because the very best condition to take your motorcycle test in is sleep-deprived and hung-over.

The next day, a gang of five of us showed up. Four out of five of us knew each other already, and the last guy was way too cool to talk to anyone else. Everyone pulled numbers out of a hat, and the tester turned out to be just one of the instructors.

I was fully expecting him to go and climb up into the watchtower so that he could judge us from there, but he did something far more nerve-wracking: he hopped into a car and trailed around behind the bike. I was #3, so I got to watch two other guys go around ahead of me: Mr. Cool, and an incredibly timid guy who I may have mentioned before. I also got to witness one of the Kogata Kops™ (who were also testing) wipe out awesomely on the figure-8.

So then I went out, with two young kids in line behind me (one, the kid from the previous day). I did the usual pre-mounting check, hopped up onto the bike, turned the ignition on, tried to start the engine, and then realized that I’d forgotten to put up the kick stand. Which of course put me in a perfect frame of mind for the rest of the test, so I took off going too fast, changed lanes for the right turn too late, and stopped too sharply at the stop sign, putting down my right foot when the bike nearly fell over.

A happy camper, I was not.

Somehow I managed to avoid doing any insta-fail things like falling off the balance beam or knocking over any pylons, so the tester just kept on trailing along behind me. My blood pressure was nicely raised by a car driver who froze up for nearly a minute right in front of me when I was supposed to be driving around the obstacle, so by the time I finished the test I was in a vile mood, because I knew I’d failed it. The only consolation was that the car driver had also failed.

Well, the tester after the test gave me some brief, vague advice, and told me to go back to the class and wait.

After everyone finished their test, comparing blood pressures, the tester came back and informed us that we’d learn if we passed or failed at 11:30. It was 10:30 at this point, so the two young kids and I wandered over to the study room to sit around and chat while we waited.

After talking for an hour or so (I discovered maps of the Shutoko! Very handy. Also, one of the young guys is a university student who, after accumulating four 50cc bikes, finally decided to stump up for training for a proper license and a real bike), we trooped over into a different classroom and took our seats. Along with about 25 other people, which slightly confused us—we were wondering if it was the police academy (nope, no uniforms) or other kogatas (nope, it was just police). Then we realized that while there was only one bike on the course at a time, there were generally three or four cars, which explained the greater numbers.

Also, the car candidates were all sitting in stock silence, and the bike candidates were chatting amongst one another. An interesting difference that.

The instructor called on a couple of the car drivers, saying, “and bring your stuff with you too.” After talking to them briefly outside and sending them on their way, he came back into the classroom. “Alright, everyone who’s still in this room right now successfully passed your driving test. Congratulations!” And with that he handed out forms to fill in in case any of our details had changed, and a survey (“Why did you come here?” “Because it’s close.” kind of thing, although I was a little startled by the question about sexual harassment.)

The instructor told us to be back in an hour, once all the graduation certificates and forms for Konosu were ready. And we all went for lunch, a HUGE weight off our shoulders.

After that, there’s not much left to say. They gave me a graduation certificate, all the forms I’d need to hand in at the Konosu driver’s license center already filled in, everything already in place except the tax stamps. They briefed us on what to expect at Konosu and how much money to bring to cover the various fees. And the next day, I took a day off work, went to the license center, and got my shiny new motorcycle license, good for any 2-wheeled vehicle up to 400cc.